Solid state image sensor

ABSTRACT

The consumed power of a MOS type sensor including a floating diffusion (FD) amplifier in each pixel is reduced. For this purpose, drain regions (regions for supplying a pulse voltage to FD portions through reset transistors) of unit pixels are connected to different drain lines row by row, so as to selectively supply a power pulse to each row. The power pulse is set to a HIGH level potential at least during a period when signal charge stored in the FD portion is reset and a period when the signal charge stored in the FD portion is detected.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a MOS type solid state image sensor for use in a digital camera and the like.

FIG. 17 shows an example of a conventional solid state image sensor composed of MOS transistors. This solid state image sensor includes a photosensitive region 14 in which a plurality of amplifying unit pixels are two-dimensionally arranged on a semiconductor substrate, and each of the unit pixels includes a photodiode (PD) 1, a read transistor 2, a floating diffusion (FD) portion, a reset transistor 3, a detect transistor 4 and an address transistor 5. The solid state image sensor further includes signal lines 6, drain lines 7, read gate lines 8, reset gate lines 9, address gate lines 10, a vertical shift register 12 for selecting a row of pixels, a horizontal shift register 13 for selecting a column of pixels, and a timing generation circuit 11 for supplying necessary pulses to the shift registers 12 and 13.

Signal charge having been subjected to photoelectric conversion by the PD 1 is read by the read transistor 2 to the FD portion which is a storage region for storing the signal charge. The potential of the FD portion is determined according to the amount of charge thus read to the FD portion, so as to change the gate voltage of the detect transistor 4, and if the address transistor 5 is selected, a signal voltage is taken out onto the signal line 6.

Although the signal voltage is taken out onto each corresponding signal line 6 in the conventional solid state image sensor of FIG. 17, power pulses are simultaneously supplied through the drain lines 7 to all the two-dimensionally arranged plural amplifying unit pixels. Accordingly, this conventional technique is disadvantageous in consuming large power.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is reducing consumed power in a solid state image sensor.

In order to achieve the object, in the solid state image sensor of this invention, drain regions (regions for supplying a pulse voltage to FD portions through reset transistors) of a plurality of amplifying unit pixels are connected to different drain lines row by row. Therefore, a power pulse can be selectively supplied to each row, so as to reduce the consumed power. In addition, the drain line is pulse driven so as to be set to a HIGH level potential at least during a period when signal charge stored in a storage region (namely, the FD portion) is reset and a period when the signal charge stored in the storage region is detected. In other words, each drain line is driven in a necessary period alone, and hence, the consumed power can be further reduced.

Furthermore, when the drain line is set to a HIGH level potential during a period when a read transistor is in an ON state, it is possible to avoid reverse flow of charge to a photoelectric conversion region (namely, a PD) derived from a LOW level potential of the drain line.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram for showing an exemplified configuration of an amplifying unit pixel used in a solid state image sensor according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram for showing an exemplified configuration of a vertical shift register used in the solid state image sensor of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for showing an exemplified structure of a driver circuit for driving the amplifying unit pixel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the driver circuit of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing relative positions of respective potentials in the amplifying unit pixel of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F and 5G are potential diagrams of the same amplifying unit pixel according to the operations of the driver circuit of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a timing chart of a modification of the operation of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, 7E, 7F and 7G are diagrams corresponding to FIG. 6, showing a modification of FIGS. 5A through to 5G;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram for showing another exemplified structure of the driver circuit for driving the amplifying unit pixel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the driver circuit of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10A is a diagram showing relative positions of respective potentials in the amplifying unit pixel of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E, 10F and 10G are potential diagrams of the same amplifying unit pixel according to the operations of the driver circuit of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram for showing a specific example of the configuration of the driver circuit of FIG. 3 or 8;

FIG. 12 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the circuit of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a plan view of an exemplified line layout in the amplifying unit pixel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 14 is a plan view of another exemplified line layout in the amplifying unit pixel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view for showing an exemplified structure of another solid state image sensor according to this invention;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of a modification of the structure of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 17 is a block diagram for showing an example of a conventional solid state image sensor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A solid state image sensor according to a preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplified configuration of an amplifying unit pixel used in the solid state image sensor of this embodiment. In FIG. 1, a reference numeral 1 denotes a photodiode (PD), a reference numeral 2 denotes a read transistor, FD denotes a floating diffusion portion, a reference numeral 3 denotes a reset transistor, a reference numeral 4 denotes a detect transistor, a reference numeral 6 denotes a signal line, a reference numeral 7 denotes a drain line (VDD), a reference numeral 15 denotes am amplifying unit pixel, a reference numeral 16 denotes a gate line used for both read and reset (hereinafter referred to as the read/reset gate line), and a reference numeral 17 denotes an FD line for connecting the FD portion to the gate of the detect transistor 4. Assuming N to be an integer, the read/reset gate line 16 is connected to the gates of the read transistors 2 of pixels disposed on the Nth row and to the gates of the reset transistors 3 of pixels disposed on the (N+1)th row. The detect transistors 4 are connected to the different signal lines 6 column by column. Also, the drain lines 7 extending in the horizontal direction are supplied with different VDD power pulses row by row.

In the configuration of FIG. 1, the composing elements of each unit pixel 15 can be reduced, as compared with that of the conventional unit pixel, to one line extending in the vertical direction (namely, the signal line 6), two lines extending in the horizontal direction (namely, the drain line 7 and the read/reset gate line 16) and three transistors (namely, the read transistor 2, the reset transistor 3 and the detect transistor 4).

FIG. 2 shows an exemplified configuration of a vertical shift register 12 used in this solid state image sensor. In FIG. 2, Vin, T1 and T2 denote timing pulses supplied from a timing generation circuit 11. A capacitor 18 is provided on each stage of the shift register, so as to output signals Sig1, Sig2 and Sig3 from the respective stages.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplified structure of a driver circuit for driving the amplifying unit pixel 15 of FIG. 1. In FIG. 3, a reference numeral 20 denotes the Nth stage of the vertical shift register 12, a reference numeral 21 denotes the (N+1)th stage of the vertical shift register 12, a reference numeral 22 denotes a charge read pulse generation circuit, a reference numeral 23 denotes a reset pulse generation circuit, a reference numeral 24 denotes an OR circuit, and a reference numeral 25 denotes a VDD horizontal line power supply circuit. The charge read pulse generation circuit 22 generates an AND signal of the output signal SigN from the Nth stage of the vertical shift register 12 and a conventional read pulse. The reset pulse generation circuit 23 generates an AND signal of the output signal Sig(N+1) from the (N+1)th stage of the vertical shift register 12 and a conventional reset pulse. The OR circuit 24 supplies, to the read/reset gate line 16, an OR signal of the output of the charge read pulse generation circuit 22 and the output of the reset pulse generation circuit 23. The VDD horizontal line power supply circuit 25 supplies, to the drain line 7, an AND signal of the output signal SigN from the Nth stage of the vertical shift register 12 and a conventional power pulse.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the driver circuit of FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, “Potential of FD2” shows a potential of the FD portion in the amplifying unit pixel (a first pixel) 15 of FIG. 1. Also, FIG. 5A is a diagram showing relative positions of respective potentials in the first pixel, and FIGS. 5B through to 5G are potential diagrams of the first pixel according to the operations of the driver circuit of FIG. 3. The timings t1 through to t6 in FIGS. 5B through to 5G correspond to those in FIG. 4. At this point in resetting a second pixel adjacent to the first pixel, a LOW level potential of the drain line 7 of the first pixel is set to a potential higher than the potential depth of the PD 1 of the first pixel. Also, the potential below the gate of the reset transistor 3 of the first pixel obtained by applying a LOW level voltage to this gate is set to a potential higher than the LOW level potential of the drain line 7. Therefore, even when a pulse is given to the read transistor 2 of the first pixel in resetting the second pixel, unnecessary charge of the PD 1 of the first pixel is efficiently removed as shown in, for example, FIG. 5E, and hence, charge can be prevented from flowing in the reverse direction from the FD portion to the PD 1. In addition, a LOW level voltage applied to the gate of the read transistor 2 of the first pixel is set to voltage lower than the LOW level voltage applied to the gate of the reset transistor 3 of the first pixel, so that the detect transistor 4 can be kept in an OFF state under conditions other than that of FIG. 5C.

In this case, it is necessary to set the potential of the drain line 7 to a HIGH level potential during a period when the signal charge read from the PD 1 is stored in the FD portion and at least one of periods when the signal charge of the FD portion is reset. In the case where the unnecessary charge obtained in the PD 1 is removed for realizing an electronic shutter function, the potential of the drain 7 is set to the HIGH level potential during the period when the unnecessary charge read from the PD 1 is stored in the FD portion and the period when the unnecessary charge of the FD portion is reset. However, in the case where the unnecessary charge read from the PD 1 to the FD portion is immediately reset, the potential of the drain line 7 is set to the HIGH level potential during a period when both of the read transistor 2 and the reset transistor 3 are turned on. In order to realize interlace display, the driver circuit is configured so that the potential of not less than two drain lines 7 can be set to the HIGH level potential in one horizontal blanking period for detecting signal charges of not less than two pixels adjacent to each other in the column direction.

Alternatively, the LOW level potential of the drain line 7 of the first pixel is set to a potential lower than the potential depth of the PD 1 of the first pixel in resetting the second pixel and the potential below the gate of the reset transistor 3 of the first pixel obtained by applying the LOW level voltage to this gate is set to a potential higher than the LOW level potential of the drain line 7. Thus, when a pulse is given to the read transistor 2 of the first pixel in resetting the second pixel, what is called “a priming effect”, serving as countermeasure against afterglow, wherein a reference potential of PD is the LOW level potential of VDD, can be exhibited.

FIG. 6 shows a modification of FIG. 4, and FIGS. 7A through to 7G corresponding to FIG. 6 show a modification of FIGS. 5A through to 5G. As shown in FIG. 6 and FIGS. 7A through to 7G, a difference between the LOW level potential of VDD and the potential of PD 1 can be enlarged so as to prevent charge from flowing in the reverse direction to the PD 1. In this case, the LOW level voltage given to the gate of the read transistor 2 and that given to the gate of the reset transistor 3 are equalized to each other for simplifying manufacturing process.

FIG. 8 shows another exemplified structure of the driver circuit for driving the amplifying unit pixel of FIG. 1. In FIG. 8, a reference numeral 30 denotes a first power pulse generation circuit, a reference numeral 31 denotes a second power pulse generation circuit and a reference numeral 32 denotes a VDD horizontal line power supply OR circuit. The first power pulse generation circuit 30 generates, in a first period, an AND signal of the output signal SigN from the Nth stage of the vertical shift register 12 and a first power pulse. The second power pulse generation circuit 31 generates, in a second period following the first period, an AND signal of the output signal Sig(N+1) from the (N+1)th stage of the vertical shift register 12 and a second power pulse. The VDD horizontal line power supply OR circuit 32 supplies, to the drain line 7, an OR signal of the output of the first power pulse generation circuit 30 and the output of the second power pulse generation circuit 31. The circuit structure for driving the read/reset gate line 16 is the same as that of FIG. 3.

FIG. 9 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the driver circuit of FIG. 8. In FIG. 9, “Potential of FD2” shows the potential of the FD portion in the amplifying unit pixel (a first pixel) 15 of FIG. 1. At timings t4 through to t6 of FIG. 9, in order to prevent a LOW level potentail of the drain line 7 from flowing in the reverse direction to the PD 1, the VDD power pulse (VDD2) undergoes a LOW transition at timing t5 after “OR circuit output 2” which is the OR signal of the output of the charge read pulse generation circuit 22 and the output of the reset pulse generation circuit 23 undergoes a LOW transition after timing t4. Also, FIG. 10A is a diagram showing relative positions of respective potentials in the first pixel, and FIGS. 10B through to 10G are potential diagrams of the first pixel according to the operations of the driver circuit of FIG. 8. The timings t1 through to t6 in FIGS. 10B through to 10G correspond to those in FIG. 9. At this point, assuming that a pixel adjacent to the first pixel is called a second pixel, the potential of the drain line 7 of the first pixel is set to a HIGH level potential when the second pixel is reset, and the potential of the drain line 7 of the first pixel is set to a LOW level potential (herein, zero) when the signal charge obtained through the photoelectric conversion is read to the FD portion by the read transistor 2 so as to operate the detect transistor 4 at timing t5. Also, the potential below the gate of the reset transistor 3 of the first pixel obtained by applying a LOW level voltage to this gate is set to a potential higher than the potential depth of the PD 1 of the first pixel. Accordingly, even when a pulse is given to the read transistor 2 of the first pixel in resetting the second pixel, charge can be prevented from flowing in the reverse direction from the FD portion to the PD 1 of the first pixel as shown in, for example, FIG. 10E. In addition, since the potential of the drain line 7 of the first pixel is the LOW level potential in reading the second pixel as shown in FIG. 10F, the detect transistor 4 of the first pixel can be kept in an OFF state so as to avoid mixing of output signals on the signal line 6. It is noted that the reset transistor 3 may be of a depletion type. Also, even when the LOW level potential of the drain line 7 is set to zero, the detect transistor 4 can be kept in an OFF state.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the specific configuration of the driver circuit of FIG. 3 or 8. In FIG. 11, C1 and C2 are capacitors, SW1 and SW2 are switches, and Tr1 and Tr2 are transistors for preventing reverse flow. The configuration of FIG. 11 corresponds to a dynamic circuit composed of a first AND circuit including the capacitor C1, the switch SW1 and the transistor Tr1, a second AND circuit including the capacitor C2, the switch SW2 and the transistor Tr2, and wired OR connection of the outputs of these two AND circuits. For example, the first AND circuit, the second AND circuit and the wired OR connection respectively correspond to the charge read pulse generation circuit 22, the reset pulse generation circuit 23 and the OR circuit 24 (see FIG. 3). In this case, two inputs ØA and ØT of the first AND circuit respectively correspond to the output signal SigN from the Nth stage of the vertical shift register 12 and the conventional read pulse, and two inputs ØX and ØR of the second AND circuit respectively correspond to the output signal Sig(N+1) from the (N+1)th stage of the vertical shift register 12 and the conventional reset pulse. In the first AND circuit, the first pulse signal ØA is applied to one end (the+ side) of the capacitor Cl by the switch SW1, and the second pulse signal ØT is applied to the other end (the−side) of the capacitor C1. The gate of the transistor Tr1 is connected to the former end (the+ side) of the capacitor C1, the drain thereof is connected to the latter end (the−side) of the capacitor c1, and the source thereof is connected to a wired OR connection node. The second AND circuit has a similar structure. Signals ØB and ØY are signals for respectively controlling the on/off state of the switches SW1 and SW2.

FIG. 12 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the first AND circuit of FIG. 11. According to FIG. 12, the rising edge of the first pulse signal ØA appears when the switch SW1 is closed by the control signal ØB. Thus, the capacitor C1 is charged, so as to keep the charge voltage (the HIGH level voltage with a polarity shown in FIG. 11) even after the switch SW1 is opened. Under this condition, when the second pulse signal ØT appears, the HIGH level voltage of this signal is superposed on the charge voltage of the capacitor C1, and therefore, the transistor Tr1 is turned on and the pulse signal ØT passes through to the wired OR connection node. Thereafter, the switch SW1 is closed again after the fall of the first pulse signal ØA, and hence, the capacitor Cl is discharged to restore to the initial state.

By using the respective AND circuits of FIG. 9, the reverse flow of charge from the output to the input can be avoided. Accordingly, even when the capacitor 18 included in the vertical shift register 12 of FIG. 2 is charged, the operation of the vertical shift register 12 is never hindered. It is noted that the dynamic circuit having the reverse flow preventing function shown in FIG. 9 is widely applicable apart from the solid state image sensor of this embodiment.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplified line layout in the amplifying unit pixel 15 of FIG. 1. The signal line 6 and the drain line 7 are arranged to cross each other in different layers so as to prevent light leakage. Specifically, the drain line 7 and the FD line 17 are made from a first metal layer above the read/reset gate line 16 (not shown) and the signal line 6 is made from a second metal layer above the first metal layer. In this case, the FD line 17 is made from a first light blocking metal layer and the signal line 6 is made from a second light blocking metal layer. A light blocking film may be further formed on the signal line 6. When the drain line 7 and the read/reset gate line 16 are made from the same interconnect layer of, for example, polysilicon, polycide or silicide, layers stacked on a semiconductor substrate can be reduced in the thickness in total, resulting in improving the concentration ratio in the aperture of the PD 1.

FIG. 14 shows another exemplified line layout of the amplifying unit pixel 15 of FIG. 1. Also in this case, the signal line 6 and the drain line 7 are arranged to cross each other in different layers so as to prevent light leakage. Specifically, the signal line 6 and the FD line 17 are made from a first metal layer above the read/reset gate line 16 (not shown) and the drain line 7 is made from a second metal layer above the first metal layer. In this case, the FD line 17 is made from a first light blocking metal layer and the drain line 7 is made from a second light blocking metal layer. A light blocking film may be further formed on the drain line 7.

FIG. 15 shows an exemplified structure of another solid state image sensor according to this invention. In FIG. 15, a common VDD layer (a single drain layer) 41 is formed above polysilicon/aluminum lines 40. In other words, the drain line 7 extending in the horizontal direction in FIG. 1 is further omitted, so that the drain regions of respective unit pixels are connected to the single drain layer 41 also working as a light blocking film. Specifically, a signal line and an FD line are made from the polysilicon/aluminum lines 40 in a layer above the read/reset gate line (not shown), and the drain layer 41 is made from a second metal layer above the polysilicon/aluminum lines 40. In this case, the FD line is made from a first light blocking metal layer and the drain layer 41 is made from a second light blocking metal layer. The drain layer 41 also works as a cell shielding film of an optical black part. The structure of FIG. 15 is applicable to a solid state image sensor not including a read/reset gate line.

FIG. 16 shows a modification of the structure of FIG. 3. It is understood from FIG. 2 that the input timing pulse T1 or T2 for driving the vertical shift register 12 serves as the output signal Sig(N) from each stage of the shifter register (wherein N=1, 2, 3, etc.) In the structure of FIG. 16, the output signal SigN from the Nth stage of the vertical shift register 12 directly drives the drain line 7 without using the VDD horizontal power supply circuit 25 (shown in FIG. 3). In other words, according to the modification of FIG. 16, a driver included in the VDD horizontal line power supply circuit 25 can be omitted, resulting in realizing downsizing of the semiconductor substrate and reduction of power consumption. The read/reset gate line 16 may be driven by the output signal from each stage of the vertical shift register 12.

Although the transistors are N-type MOS transistors in the above-described embodiment, a solid state image sensor can be operated on the same principle so as to realize the same effect even when the transistors are P-type MOS transistors or CMOS transistors. Also, this invention is not limited in the above-described embodiment and various combinations of other structures of unit pixels, vertical shift registers and driver circuits thereof, wirings and light blocking films can be adopted. In the above-described embodiment, N-type photodiodes are used. When P-type photodiodes are utilized, relationships between respective voltages and potentials are naturally reversed. 

1. A solid state image sensor comprising a plurality of amplifying unit pixels arranged two-dimensionally on a semiconductor substrate, each of said plurality of amplifying unit pixels including a photoelectric conversion region for subjecting incident light to photoelectric conversion; a read transistor for reading signal charge obtained through the photoelectric conversion; a storage region for storing said signal charge read by said read transistor; a detect transistor for detecting said signal charge on the basis of application of potential of said storage region to a gate thereof; a reset transistor for resetting said signal charge stored in said storage region; and a drain region for supplying a pulse voltage to said storage region through said reset transistor, wherein said drain regions of said plurality of amplifying unit pixels are connected to different drain lines row by row, and said drain line is pulse driven to be set to a HIGH level potential at least during a period when said signal charge stored in said storage region is reset and a period when said signal charge stored in said storage region is detected, and wherein not less than two drain lines are set to a HIGH level potential during one blanking period for detecting signal charges of not less than two pixels adjacent to each other in a column direction out of said plurality of amplifying unit pixels.
 2. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, wherein said drain line is set to a HIGH level potential during a period when said read transistor is in an ON state.
 3. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, further comprising: a vertical shift register for selecting one row of said plurality of amplifying unit pixels; and a circuit for supplying, to said drain line on a corresponding row, a power pulse generated by using an output from one stage of said vertical shift register.
 4. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, further comprising: a shift register for selecting one row or column of said plurality of amplifying unit pixels, wherein each of said plurality of amplifying unit pixels is driven by a pulse used for driving said shift register.
 5. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, wherein said drain line is set to a HIGH level potential during a period when said signal charge read from said photoelectric conversion region is stored in said storage region and at least one period when said signal charge stored in said storage region is reset.
 6. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, wherein said drain line is set to a HIGH level potential, for the purpose of removing unnecessary charge read from said photoelectric conversion region, during a period when said unnecessary charge is stored in said storage region and a period when said unnecessary charge stored in said storage region is reset.
 7. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, wherein said drain line is set to a HIGH level potential, for the purpose of removing unnecessary charge read from said photoelectric conversion region to said storage region, during a period when both of said read transistor and said reset transistor are turned on.
 8. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, wherein said drain line is made from the same interconnect layer as that used for forming gates of said read, detect and reset transistors.
 9. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, wherein a line for connecting said storage region to a gate of said detect transistor is made from a first light blocking metal layer.
 10. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, wherein said detect transistors of said plurality of amplifying unit pixels are connected to different signal lines column by column, a line for connecting said storage region to a gate of said detect transistor and said drain line are made from a first metal layer, and said signal line is made from a second metal layer above said first metal layer.
 11. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, wherein said detect transistors of said plurality of unit pixels are connected to different signal lines column by column, a line for connecting said storage region to a gate of said detect transistor and said signal line are made from a first metal layer, and said drain line is made from a second metal layer above said first metal layer.
 12. The solid state image sensor of claim 1, wherein a LOW level voltage applied to a gate of said read transistor of each pixel is set to voltage lower than another LOW level voltage applied to a gate of said reset transistor. 